Word: verbena
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Enrico Caruso, probably the most popular singer of all time, lived a life as tempestuous, verbena-scented and romantic as any Verdi libretto. He was already a mature (45) and wealthy idol (and the father of two illegitimate sons) when he met convent-reared Dorothy Park Benjamin, courted her under the disapproving eye of her blue-blooded U.S. father, married her and made her one of America's most toasted women. With operatic fervor, he plunged into his new role: the impassioned husband and father...
...fastidious Caruso, who bathed twice daily and sprayed himself and his surroundings with verbena scent, said of a not-so-fastidious diva: "Ai me! It is terrible to sing with one who does not bathe, but to be emotionated over one who breathes garlic is impossible. I hope the public observe not my lack of feeling...
...Caruso's grand piano, his 16th-Century Madonna and Mrs. Caruso's story were too much for the girl ghost: she kept weeping over her work for two weeks. Finally Mrs. Caruso said: "I decided to write the book myself. While I wrote I could smell the verbena just as though he were here. . . . Those failures [her two marriages since Caruso's death] were no one's fault. . . . Death had not ended my marriage to Enrico...
...movable iron puppets in the windows. There were also Chinese pagodas with swinging bells. In the most restrained taste was a job turned out by a Troy, N.Y. foundry (see cut), possessing a large humidifier urn on top, in which the housewife could put oil of cloves, cinnamon or verbena to scent the room, and a hot plate over the fire on which she could make...